


The Things We Control

by tostormorfire



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Whump, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6107094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tostormorfire/pseuds/tostormorfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Great advice: don't trust the beautiful girl who walked out of the shadows. Too bad Barry didn't know this until too late.</p><p>(NEW META)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Things We Control

**Author's Note:**

> Hiyo! I'm new to the AO3 community, but fear not, I have written fanfiction before. Leave kudos, bookmark, or comment please!

It had been too long since Barry had gotten a break.

Sunday night, he was finally able to kick back a few beers with Joe. They were going to binge Orange is the New Black on Netflix; he had even traveled to Starling-- sorry, Star City-- to get some of their sushi. Iris Beer bottles, chopsticks, sushi bowls, and soy sauce packets were scattered all around the table, and believe it or not, they had been enjoying themselves. They had only gotten 7 minutes and 36 seconds into the first episode when Barry received a call from Cisco.

Barry gave Joe a slight pleading look as he answered. "Yeah, what do you got for me, Cisco?" 

"There's a report of a guy who broke into St. Mary's Church. You should be there." 

He stood up, setting his beer on the table. "Who would want to rob a church? Okay, never mind, I'm on it."

With only an apologetic glance towards his foster dad, Barry sped away from the West household. Giving a slight chuckle, Joe took the beer bottle that was now sitting on his coffee table and took a swig of it, returning his attention to the TV screen.

Meanwhile, Barry stood in a now eerily empty church, where ghostly lighting came off of the window panes. A statue of the cross and Jesus hung on the wall, drawing a sorrowful and moody tone into the room. Rain pattered on the sills, and moonlight casted through the windows. It was too dark to see, but Barry could tell he was very alone. "I'm not seeing him," he spoke into his mouthpiece.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Back in Star Labs, Cisco rolled his chair across the floor, looking intently at the screen. "The church recently set up a silent alarm system after the guy threatened the priest during confession. The church doesn't have any video surveillance; I can't get a closer look. He's all yours, man, sorry."

Alright, Barry sighed, his hand leaving his ear. He looked in all the corners, where shadows seems to cower into the walls. A moth flew across the room, and nearly scared the crap out of him. He searched row after row, upstairs and down. Finally, he reached a wooden door that seemed to be locked.

On Cisco's side, only static was coming from Barry's mouthpiece. Cisco and Caitlin were desperately trying to recover his waves. "Barry? Can you hear me... BARRY?"

Fingers typing wildly, Cisco said to Caitlin, "Look, his vitals are stable. The connection might be bad, or he might have just turned it off. Barry is the Flash. I'm sure he's fine..."

When sound did come from Barry, it was not what Cisco and Caitlin were hoping for.

"OH SHI--"

Even those words were garbled, but the sudden noise alarmed the people in Star Labs.

Silence. No yelling, no static. Somehow, the silence etched fear into them, making their hearts pound, fingers shake, and blood run cold. They all held their breathes, and only the dripping of a leak in the next room could be heard. The Flash suit on the monitor blinked once... twice... and then turned into frenzy.

"What's happening?" Cisco screamed at Caitlin, jumping up from his seat to try to get connection to Barry once more.

"His heart seems to be beating wildly. I don't know what's happening. It could be fear, adrenaline, or... or... a seizure. Anything could be going on, but we don't have any idea what is is."

"CALL JOE. Get Barry out of there, NOW."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joe did not know what to expect. Really, he should have known that if Barry had to leave early from their guys' night, he would have to be brought into the situation too. When he got the call from STAR Labs, he really wasn't surprised. Joe closed the door to his squad car, and looked up at the tall building. Gun and flashlight in hand, Joe walked slowly into the church. 

"Barry?" he called. "Geez, this place is creepy."

Now on full alert, Joe's hand tensed on his gun, and he took a few more steps in the column. Joe glanced into a shiny pedestal, his reflection staring back at him. His heart almost skipped a beat when he realized the frame of a silhouette was standing behind him. Joe whipped around, pointing his gun toward the shadow. "Hello? Who's there?"

A face appeared into the light, and Joe sighed with relief, putting his gun away. "Barry, what happened? Your comms stopped working, we were worried sick!"

"I'm fine," Barry replied, rather coldly Joe had to admit. A shadow of a smirk played on his lips, but Joe passed it off as a trick of the light. "I just had to... Well," He uncharacteristically chuckled. "I had to enjoy the beauty of the church."

"Yeah," Joe said looking around. "Stunning," he said sarcastically, taking note of the cobwebs and moths. "Thank God--well, no pun intended-- that you turned out to be fine. Come on, let's go finish that episode."

Joe was rather disturbed. Barry was not acting like himself, and somehow the way Barry was looking at him was unnerving. Like his entire personality was different, and there was a one sided tension between them.

Joe should have known something was wrong. There was obviously something off about Barry, but he didn't take note of it. As Joe turned toward the exit, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and was out like a light. 

As he lost consciousness, he heard the clicking of a woman's heels and seductive laughter. Two figures leaned into each other, and then all he saw was black.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"OH SHIT!" Barry saw a young woman calmly sitting on one of the seats, and he would admit it may have scared him a little. "Um..." Even in the crude lighting, he could tell she was beautiful. Her hair was billowing, and let's just say her shirt was a little too low for his liking. "You can't... be here?" He didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but everything was so confusing and it was getting hard to concentrate.

He blinked hard a few times. "What are you doing... why... are you here?"

She stood up patiently, adjusting her shirt to become somehow even more low. "Waiting for you, Flash."

Her voice. It made Barry want to melt. His entire mind was a haze, and he couldn't remember anything anymore. "Um... okay. That's me."

She took a few steps closer. As she began to near, her facial features became more clear. Her eyes were a dark red, and her brilliant purple hair gleamed in the moonlight. The woman leaned in to his lips, put her hips against his crotch, and that was the last thing he would remember for a long time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joe woke up in the cortex. The lights were too bright; a faint throbbing emanated from his head, and he couldn't help but groan.

"Be careful," A head popped into his view. "You've been out for quite a while, and it seems you've been showing concussive symptoms. You're also suffering from some blood loss, you have blunt force trauma to the head."

"Caitlin." Joe closed his eyes, and slowly sat up.

A cold hand fell on his wrist. "Careful, Dad. Take it easy." Iris' eyebrows were scrunched up worriedly, in the cute way that she had been doing since she was little. "What do you remember?"

"Um..." Joe closed his eyes tightly. They snapped open. "Barry! Something... He wasn't himself. There was a woman... I think he's been... brainwashed."

Cisco got up from his computer, sporting a licorice in one hand. "Woah, woah, woah... Like... Siren style?" He laughed. "Ho ho ho... Barry's got it bad."

"You guys need to find him," Joe insisted. "Who knows if he's okay, or what he's doing."

Immediately the smile fell from Cisco's face. "If he's still wearing his suit, we can track him. In the meantime, Joe, tell Captain Singh. We're going to find him."


End file.
